2k11 Outhouse People's Champion

PARIS – An “armored” fish living in the Amazon has evolved a remarkable multilayer defense against the voracious piranha.

Microscopic examination and mechanical testing have revealed the secrets of the Arapaima gigas, one of the biggest freshwater fish on the planet. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found its scales have an ultratough shell, designed to “promote tooth fracture at the point of penetration.”

The scales also have a corrugated shape, designed to deflect pressure to a thicker, more elastic layer of collagen that lies underneath. The collagen itself is arranged in twisted overlapping layers. They can slide slightly in response to a bite, causing its pressure to be spread over a wider area.

PARIS – An “armored” fish living in the Amazon has evolved a remarkable multilayer defense against the voracious piranha.

Microscopic examination and mechanical testing have revealed the secrets of the Arapaima gigas, one of the biggest freshwater fish on the planet. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found its scales have an ultratough shell, designed to “promote tooth fracture at the point of penetration.”

The scales also have a corrugated shape, designed to deflect pressure to a thicker, more elastic layer of collagen that lies underneath. The collagen itself is arranged in twisted overlapping layers. They can slide slightly in response to a bite, causing its pressure to be spread over a wider area.

2k11 Outhouse People's Champion

If you wanted to find a venomous animal, you could do far worse than picking up a random arthropod—the group of animals that includes spiders, scorpions, centipedes, ants, bees and wasps. The group includes hundreds of thousands of venomous members, who inject their debilitating chemical weapons via fangs and stings.

Within this toxic dynasty, one of the major arthropod groups—the crustaceans—sticks out. There’s no such thing as a venomous crab or lobster, prawn or shrimp. There are some 70,000 species of crustaceans and, until recently, it seemed that all of them were venom-free.

The only exceptions live in coastal caves, which are connected to the ocean by underground tunnels. The dark, salty worlds are home to blind, white, sinuous creatures called remipedes. Although they look a lot like white centipedes, that’s just a coincidence. They’re actually crustaceans, and possibly close relatives of the insects.

If you wanted to find a venomous animal, you could do far worse than picking up a random arthropod—the group of animals that includes spiders, scorpions, centipedes, ants, bees and wasps. The group includes hundreds of thousands of venomous members, who inject their debilitating chemical weapons via fangs and stings.

Within this toxic dynasty, one of the major arthropod groups—the crustaceans—sticks out. There’s no such thing as a venomous crab or lobster, prawn or shrimp. There are some 70,000 species of crustaceans and, until recently, it seemed that all of them were venom-free.

The only exceptions live in coastal caves, which are connected to the ocean by underground tunnels. The dark, salty worlds are home to blind, white, sinuous creatures called remipedes. Although they look a lot like white centipedes, that’s just a coincidence. They’re actually crustaceans, and possibly close relatives of the insects.

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Judging from River Monsters, (yeah, I watch a show about fishing), Jeremy Wade is solely responsible...

Just kidding, he catches and releases most of his fish. And they got him back, damaging his heart permanently once when one jumped out of the water and hit his chest. Fortunately for him, it was a small one...

And man, all those researchers had to do was ask him, he's been going on about those things for years now on his show.

I confess to a small desire to see one up close. AFAIK, they're doing well in remote stretches of the Amazon. And hanging in there in the non-remote places. It IS getting hard to find the truly giant ones though.

Judging from River Monsters, (yeah, I watch a show about fishing), Jeremy Wade is solely responsible...

Just kidding, he catches and releases most of his fish. And they got him back, damaging his heart permanently once when one jumped out of the water and hit his chest. Fortunately for him, it was a small one...

And man, all those researchers had to do was ask him, he's been going on about those things for years now on his show.

I confess to a small desire to see one up close. AFAIK, they're doing well in remote stretches of the Amazon. And hanging in there in the non-remote places. It IS getting hard to find the truly giant ones though.

Achilles is the kind of evil that hollows out a volcano for a lair, and sends killer robots after his enemies.---Lord Simian

2k11 Outhouse People's Champion

achilles wrote:Judging from River Monsters, (yeah, I watch a show about fishing), Jeremy Wade is solely responsible...

Just kidding, he catches and releases most of his fish. And they got him back, damaging his heart permanently once when one jumped out of the water and hit his chest. Fortunately for him, it was a small one...

And man, all those researchers had to do was ask him, he's been going on about those things for years now on his show.

I confess to a small desire to see one up close. AFAIK, they're doing well in remote stretches of the Amazon. And hanging in there in the non-remote places. It IS getting hard to find the truly giant ones though.

Makes me wonder how close they are to the old armored fishes from the Devonian period...

2k11 Outhouse People's Champion

achilles wrote:Judging from River Monsters, (yeah, I watch a show about fishing), Jeremy Wade is solely responsible...

Just kidding, he catches and releases most of his fish. And they got him back, damaging his heart permanently once when one jumped out of the water and hit his chest. Fortunately for him, it was a small one...

And man, all those researchers had to do was ask him, he's been going on about those things for years now on his show.

I confess to a small desire to see one up close. AFAIK, they're doing well in remote stretches of the Amazon. And hanging in there in the non-remote places. It IS getting hard to find the truly giant ones though.

Makes me wonder how close they are to the old armored fishes from the Devonian period...

2k11 Outhouse People's Champion

As if eye injuries weren’t creepy and weird enough, now we have to worry about tarantulas being involved. Apparently, these giant spiders have hairs that serve as defensive weapons that they can flick or press into your flesh (or your eyes) to cause long-term pain. Delightful!

As if eye injuries weren’t creepy and weird enough, now we have to worry about tarantulas being involved. Apparently, these giant spiders have hairs that serve as defensive weapons that they can flick or press into your flesh (or your eyes) to cause long-term pain. Delightful!